Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-09-07

Two DOLLARS 4 SECOND.
"A correspondent Of the Missouri Re.
publican has taken pains To make fig
ures OH the financial condition of the
United States, ana the result is worth
reading. lie says: by reference Ia
the latest published statements OF
treasury assets and liabilities it is
learned that among the assets was S2SI, :
09J,il7 in gold and nearly $50, 700 ,OOC
in silver, including S3i, 600, 900 of trade
dollars and fractional coin. Taking up
this S25l 600 900 of gold and placing il
OF scales | find that the gold held by
the treasury weighed SO tons, and if
packed into ordinary carts, one ton TO
each cart, it would make "a procession
two miles long, allowing twenty feet
OF space for the movement of each horse
and cart. The weighing of the silver
produces much more interesting re-
rults. Running this over the scales |
find its weight to be : 1896 tons. Meas
uriug II in carts, the same as the gold,
the silver now held by the treasury
would require the services of 1896 hor-
SEES and carts to transport it, and would
make procession over twenty
miles in length.
"The surplus about which so much is
said in the daily newspapers amounts
TO nearly 81, 600 600, an increase of So
100000 since July I. Counted as gold
this surplus would weigh eighty-six
and one half tons. Counted as silver
1t would weigh 1856 tons. Each mil
lion Of gold adds 3,6S5 pounds to the
surplus and each million of silver adds
$500 pounds. Applying cubic meas
urement to the treasury gold and silver
and piling the two metals on Pennsyl-
vania avenue as cOrd-wOod is piled be-
fore delivery TO the purchaser, the gold
would measure thirty seven cords and
the silver 400 cords, and both would ex-
tend from the treasury department to
four-and-a-half street, or from the
treasury 10 the pension Office in a
straight line. and forming solid wall
eight feet high and four feet broad.
Extending theseI calculations and
comparisons to the interest bearing
debt, equally interesting results arc OBJ
tanned. The public debt reached the
highest point in August, lS65-just
twenty-five years agO-when it was
S2,3Sl $50 ,295. The general reader will
better appreciate the vaStness of this
sum when Informed that it represents
7O,l56 tons of silver, which would make
aprOcession of carts that would extend
from Richmond, Va, to point twelve
miles north of Philadelphia, the dis
lance 1t would thus cover being 2G6
miles. The interest bearing debt is
now mot including the Pacific railroad
bondS) Sl,OOl $40, $50, showing that the
sum paid has been 1879, $50 SIS, OF
more than half the total amount, and
representing 1857 tons of silver dol
lars, which would extehd l5i miles if
packed in carts containing one ton
each.
"Reducing these figures to n basis
where they may be inteIligently COM
fAtiANhhNhf anu AitAN AllD ldlltlll1 Will
which the government has reduced It's
bonded debt may be fully realized by
The general reader, | find that the re-
duction has been at the average rate of
$50, 1868 each year, 1922, 5Sl each
month. Sl7l.lsG each day, S7,2jS each
hour, and Sl2O.47 for every minute of
the entire twenty two years.
Pursuing the calculations to the
smallest Invisible space of time, the
bonded debt OF the United States has
been decreased at the rate of S2.C7
for every second, or for every swing of
the pendulum, for the entire period
from August 81, 1855, to July 81, 1887.
This is an exhibition Of recupera-
ton and material progress that is
without parallel in the worlds his
tory"